I'm using "plain Jane" 1.04 Reference driver, and never have problems with it. But of course, I don't play games newer than 1999 on the Voodoo5.

By the way, why are you using 2.9? IIRC the best Amigamerlin driver for Win 98 is 2.0.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

I'm using "plain Jane" 1.04 Reference driver, and never have problems with it.

Ditto. Works perfectly with games up to DirectX 7 (and GLide, of course).

Voodoo 5 is too slow for newer games, at least with anti-aliasing enabled, and what would be the point in running a V5 without AA? 🤣

Most of those alternative drivers are just the last beta drivers with more configuration options enabled (which is very easy to do), and maybe some dlls swapped out. I never found an alternative driver which was significantly better than the reference driver, they just had compatibility issues.

well I just use it to play some Unreal/Ungying/Noone Lives Forever 2/glide-only games of the era... with a 1.4ghz tualatin pIII it is very enjoyable! I now tried the 3DHQ drivers, they seem allright, no probs at all (for now) and they come with a "3dfx tools" alternative that is actually way better

i use the AmigaMerlin V2.9 for win9x

it appears that I did forget past stuff... 😜
it is normal for some games not to pick up the voodoo cards (mainly OpenGL games) , and so you just use for them WickedGL or GLsetup (or whatever GL driver they provide) or the new MesaGL libraries... then they "talk" via glide to the game/ogl libraries... what I will try next is the Evolution 1.01.16 drivers that offer DX8 interface and wickedGL/mesaGL for games that need it... or if I see something funny again back to the reference drivers or amigamerlin + wickedGL/mesaGL ...

Version 1.04 Reference Driver on Win98 SE.

keropi wrote:

it appears that I did forget past stuff... 😜
it is normal for some games not to pick up the voodoo cards (mainly OpenGL games) , and so you just use for them WickedGL or GLsetup (or whatever GL driver they provide) or the new MesaGL libraries... then they "talk" via glide to the game/ogl libraries...

Except Voodoo5 has its own OpenGL ICD, and doesn't require a miniGL software. As you've said yourself:

keropi wrote:

Installing metabyte wicked gl 3.2 demo fixed that but this is not how it is supposed to work!

It seems to me the problem is not related to the lack of miniGL. Have you tried 3dfx reference driver?

well it appears that in some cases a minigl is STILL needed (has to do with how the game was written apparently), no matter what voodoo card one may have... I have not tried any reference drivers yet, will give them a shot after Evolution 1.01.16

I stick with 3dfx's reference drivers too. Only if I'm on XP do I try others, because there aren't any good ones from 3dfx for XP.

There are some homebrew drivers that are more than just reworked INFs though. The 3DHQ drivers are recompilations with changes (ie DirectX8 compatibility). Somehow they got the source code. VSA-100 doesn't have much more than DirectX 6 features though so there's not much point in trying to run games that advanced.

DirectX8 support does not only mean "hardware" features, mainly it means more software compatibility. The card still communicates with direct3D via directX7 "commands" , even if you have directX9 installed for example... the main reason one would like dx8 capable driver is purely to avoid as much software probs as possible, drivers don't add anything to hardware...
I have specified my target-software above, what I really need is something compatible and hassle-free 😀 more tests tomorrow

What I meant is that there's not much point in trying to play DirectX 8 level games on a Voodoo 5. Like 5u3 said, it probably won't be fast enough to handle AA at the same time and then there's no point in using a V5. You are better off with any semi-modern card as they usually are compatible with DX8 games. Get a forgotten high-end card from ~2004 (X800 for ex) and crank the AA to 6x/8x and AF to 16x and be joyous. 😁

I think the best use for a Voodoo5 is old games with 4X AA. It is the best card there is for Glide and old D3D games because of that AA. It makes them look so clean and smooth.

I really don't consider Croc, Alice, Unreal 1, Undying, Pandemoniums, Die by the Sword, Deathtrap Dungeon etc that new 😀 My main concern was to have Glide support and D3D in win98SE for such games... if drivers play nicely I'll be fine... AA etc is of no interest for me - I have also a GF4/4200 I can put there and be done with it (not to mention even nowdays I always have AA off in my modern games with my trusty 260GTX card...)

edit: about DX8 driver... there are some cheap games (like Hugo etc) that even though are very simple 3D ones, still use DX8 ... it is nice to have a DX8 capable driver - just in case - 😊

Your Alice problem comes from it trying to use a Voodoo2 card on detection so it tries to load directly to a 3dfxvgl.dll which can cuase problems. Other early Q3-based games exhibit this behavior.

keropi wrote:

I really don't consider Croc, Alice, Unreal 1, Undying, Pandemoniums, Die by the Sword, Deathtrap Dungeon etc that new 😀

Yeah those games are good on V5, I'm sure. I've enjoyed Voodoo5 with NFS3, Jedi Knight and Shadows of the Empire as well. Even some DOS Glide games work, like Carmageddon, and run perfectly smooth.

But for Unreal you can get the OpenGL renderer from OldUnreal.com and run S3TC + AA + AF on a modern card extremely well. Glide's advantage here is gone IMO.

@leileilol: thanks leileilol, that explains why putting in the game's dir a voodoo5 opengl32.dll fixes that... 😀

@swaaye: true , true, not to mention Unreal also runs fine with new systems too... but you know, that warm retro-looking 16bit feeling is priceless! 😁

I think the classic Voodoo plaid dither is more priceless than anything, especially for the low opacity green/purple artifacts. I can't wait for the day MESS/MAME emulates 3dfx tech via software means, then all the voodoo quirks coming in an authentic Glide wrapper.

allright, Evolution 1.01.16 + v.control + wickedGL 3.02 = the win combo 🤣